Marble Cake
by quintessentially
Summary: Seaver is feeling awkward and alone on the team, and she invites Prentiss over to help paint her new apartment.  Oneshot.  Written for CCOAC Challenge 14: All the Colors of the Rainbow.


"Coming!" Seaver shouted. She pushed her blond hair back from her face. She ran to the door, and pulled it open. "Hey, Emily. Thanks for coming over."

"Sure," Prentiss said. "Happy to help."

Seaver shut the door and turned around. "It still doesn't feel like home, but I'm hoping that a little paint job will fix that. And some furniture." Seaver and Prentiss both laughed a little.

In the month or so that Ashley had been with the BAU, she felt a special connection to Emily. She kind of looked up to her as an older sister. Seaver's family had been a little dysfunctional, so she really liked having a surrogate family role model. Prentiss was just the right combination of strength and humor, and Seaver really took to her.

"Anyway," Seaver started, "I thought that I would paint the living room brown, and the bedroom blue. I bought some cans of paint, and that blue tape. But honestly, I have no idea what to do. I've never painted before."

Prentiss laughed nervously. "I painted my apartment when I first moved in, but that was a few years ago. And," she winked, "I got my dad to help."

"Oh," Seaver said. "Well, I guess we'll just have to figure this one out on our own then, won't we?"

"Not a problem," smiled Prentiss. "We can figure it out."

Prentiss rolled up her sleeves and picked up the open can of paint. "It's called Chocolate Chip," Seaver interjected.

Prentiss smiled. She poured some of the brown paint into an aluminum tray.

"I bought two rollers and two big paintbrushes," Seaver said. "I figured that should get the job done."

"Great," Prentiss said. Seaver handed her a roller, and they began rolling brown paint on the plain white walls.

"So," Seaver said, "how many years have you been with the BAU?"

"About 4," Prentiss said. "But it feels like longer."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So much has changed. I mean, I was the replacement for another agent, and then Agent Gideon left and we got Rossi. Plus there was the whole thing with Hotch and the Reaper, which I assume you've heard." Seaver nodded. "And it seems like so many crazy things have happened since I've been here. It just feels like a lot more than 4 years. Are you happy to be at the BAU?"

"Yeah," Seaver smiled. "I am. It's just weird, because I don't yet feel like I'm a part of the team. And, I don't know, I'm worried that everyone feels like I'm just replacing Agent Jareau and that I'm not really needed."

"No! No way. I mean, I get it. And yeah, we all miss JJ. But you're definitely an asset to the team. Look. When I first joined the team, my paperwork got screwed up. So Hotch didn't know that I was joining the team. I showed up and was ready to get to work, but Hotch was really confused. So I didn't start on the right foot there. And it took Agent Gideon a while to actually believe in me as a profiler. And I'm pretty sure Reid hated me when I first joined the team."

"Aww, why?" Seaver asked.

"I think he thought that I was intruding. There was this one time where I was trying to look out for him, and he got really defensive. I think he was just going through a rough spot, you know, but I still felt really awkward being on the team. But after a little while, everyone starting accepting me. So you'll find that. And everything will be fine."

"You sure?"

"Positive," smiled Prentiss.

"Thanks," said Seaver. "I really needed that."

"Any time."

"Oh, uh, do you want something to drink, Emily?"

"Yeah, that would be great. What do you have?"

"Nothing much yet. I have water, lemonade, Coke, and a couple bottles of beer."

"Beer sounds great," Prentiss smiled.

"Sure thing." Seaver reached into her fridge, pulled out two bottles, and walked back toward Prentiss. "Here you-"

Seaver jumped. She had kicked the can of brown paint and knocked it over. They watched in slight shock as the paint can tipped over on the new carpet, covering the creamy white with chocolate brown. They looked back up at each other with eyes wide and mouths agape. Prentiss rushed to pick up the can, but most of the paint had already spilled out. Prentiss looked up at Seaver with a worried face.

Seaver just started laughing. "It figures. My first apartment, and I can't even paint the walls right. Whatever. It's kind of like marble cake."

"What?"

"Marble cake. The paint is chocolate chip and the carpet is vanilla."

Prentiss looked back at Seaver. They burst out in laughter at the same moment, which then made them laugh even harder. Seaver was glad that she had invited Emily over. She was glad to have a big sister on the team.


End file.
